Enlarge image
Pope Francis with his predecessor Benedict at a meeting in 2018
Photo: Vatican Media / dpa
Pope Francis has called on believers to stand up for his predecessor Benedict XVI.
to pray.
Benedict was "very ill," said Francis at the end of his general audience in the morning.
"I would like to ask you for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who is quietly supporting the Church," Francis said.
The faithful should ask God to comfort Benedict "and sustain him to the end".
Francis initially did not give any further details on Benedict's condition.
Several journalists reported late in the morning, citing information from the Vatican press office, that doctors were closely monitoring Benedict's state of health.
Accordingly, the situation is “under control”.
According to the information, Francis visited Benedict after his audience.
Benedict XVI
was in office from 2005, in 2013 he voluntarily retired.
It was the first time in centuries that a pontiff had not left office by death.
Benedikt was born in Germany and his real name is Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger.
His inauguration was celebrated by thousands, especially in Germany, because of his origins.
Benedict increasingly frail
Since his retirement, Benedict has lived in seclusion in the Vatican.
Rarely published photos showed him increasingly frail.
"I used to have a big mouth, now it doesn't work anymore," he said in 2020 in a documentary film by Bayerischer Rundfunk.
In April, his longtime private secretary Georg Gänswein told Vatican News that Benedict was "of course physically relatively weak and frail, but very clear in his head" and "in good spirits".
Benedict is looked after by Gänswein and nuns.
In recent years he has only received visitors at irregular intervals.
Most recently, accusations overshadowed Benedict's work again: A report on sexual abuse presented in Munich accused him of serious mistakes in dealing with a pedophile priest during his time as Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982. Pope Benedict is said to have done nothing or too little against the accused clerics at the time to have.
fek/dpa/Reuters
